


High School Delinquent Sweethearts

by ThaddeusBandido



Series: T Ban's Idiots in Inaba AU Fics [6]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: (Don't worry about the OCs they're just there to make things happen), F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Idiots in Inaba AU, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Pre-OT4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 02:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20899823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThaddeusBandido/pseuds/ThaddeusBandido
Summary: Shiho Suzui would have been the only third year at Yasogami High School who had no idea exactly what kind of reputation preceded their inglorious ex-con: Akira Kurusu, recently returned from Tokyo. So, when she latched onto him as soon as he arrived, people gave them a bit of a wide berth, thinking that she would wisen up and get the hell away from him.Months of isolated lunches and laughing their way through the school year together, though, had some of their classmates considering the unthinkable.They weren’t...dating, were they...?





	High School Delinquent Sweethearts

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back with another story from the countryside! The weird thing about a running joke is that, if you keep it going for a bit too long, you might forget it's a joke.
> 
> Idiots in Inaba is the brainchild of Mango, one of the smartest fandom minds I know. This series would not have happened without the fabulous fanart of yyormgen, and marrrow saves my life constantly with their incredible beta reading.
> 
> Enjoy, everyone!

_Thursday._

Hidden behind a pillar in the courtyard, snacking on her light lunch, Haruka Ishikawa wouldn't accept the sight in front of her.

In the opposite corner of the courtyard, Suzui was eating lunch with Kurusu. Away from everyone else, for the fourth time this _week_. Her eyes narrowed as she took another bite of her musubi, watching Kurusu's every move so she could tell her best friend Kae-chan later.

There was something going on between Kurusu and the transfer student, and no one could convince her otherwise. 

They were worried about Suzui, of course.

Kurusu was a little bit of a loner, ever since he came back to Inaba after he got rightfully shipped off last year. _Makes sense_, she harrumphed to herself. Someone with so little respect for authority wouldn't just change that quickly. Haruka had heard something about dropped charges, but she had disengaged as soon as she heard his name. She took another bite of her lunch.

Suzui hadn't been at Yasogami when Kurusu had become an embarrassment to everyone around him and lapsed into a criminal lifestyle. Of _course_ he'd immediately latch onto the one person who didn't already know he was damaged goods. Someone had to have told her, right?

Well, it wasn't going to be Ishikawa, in any case.

Not when she was watching them lob rice balls for each other to catch. Kurusu's lobs were perfect. _The only perfect thing about him_, Ishikawa grumbled to herself, as she chewed another bite of her spam. Suzui caught his rice balls with ease, and giggled at something he said. She attempted her own lob, Kurusu diving when her toss landed way off the mark. She dissolved into laughter when the ball hit him square in the cheek and came undone.

Kurusu tossed another rice ball, but made a quick comment that caused poor Suzui to flinch. The ball hit her in the eye, and his response was to start laughing at her. At least she appeared to close her eye before he assaulted her. Kurusu simply closed his eyes and opened his mouth to wait for the next rice ball, like he didn't care about Suzui at all.

_The audacity of that devil_, Ishikawa simmered behind her pillar, lunch forgotten.

She barely had time to stew in that disgust before Suzui quickly balled up some rice and pitched it overhand directly at Kurusu, hitting him square in the mouth.

Ishikawa stood there, puzzled and listless, as Suzui laughed while Kurusu coughed up a storm, shoulders shaking like he was repressing his own laughter.

_Maybe they're both delinquents._

* * *

_Last Saturday._

"What's on the docket for today's call, Shiho?"

A shrug. "Ann said she found a new candy shop, so I gotta see her new haul of sweets. Also, some more collective hoping that summer break gets here faster."

Akira smiled. "So, the usual, then?"

Shiho and Akira snickered as they started their walk home. They made it all the way to the gates of Yasogami High School before someone in their class tapped Shiho on her shoulder. She turned and recognized one of their classmates—Kiba?—who looked oddly nervous.

Shiho took the initiative gently. "Did you need something?"

"Uh," Kiba mumbled as he shook like a leaf, "are you two… dating?" Akira and Shiho startled and exchanged wide stares. Kiba started backing off immediately, "You d-don't have to answer that, I lost a bet, you know, it's just, you both hang out a bunch, and, uh, yeah."

Shiho flicked Akira's hand, out of sight. When his hand freed up, she interlocked their fingers and smiled demurely at their unfortunate classmate. Akira squeezed her hand lightly and finally spoke up, "Yep, definitely hit the nail on the head." Shiho turned to him, and Akira winked at her.

The third wheel was glad to have his out. "O-Okay, thank you, gotta go! Heh," was all he eeked out before he bolted.

The two stood there, processing what just happened as students filed around them like a boulder splitting a stream.

Akira spoke first. "So, what did we just sign ourselves up for?"

Shiho tugged his hand and yanked him forward as she tried to keep a smirk off her face. "Something fun. We've got a lot of planning to do, all of a sudden."

One bus ride later, Shiho called a few much needed audibles to her daily call with Ann. First, she was sitting on Akira's bed, bouncing with the rush of her hijinks. Second, Akira was in his computer chair, simultaneously trying not to facepalm and keep a massive grin from invading his face. Third…

_"Are you freakin' kiddin' me!?"_

They conference-called Ryuji. This was an "all hands on deck" situation if there ever was one.

Thankfully, Akira knew how to get Ryuji in on the situation. "Don't get too jealous, Ryuji, I still love you immensely. But, think about it this way. This is my best shot at completely punking everyone that was awful to me before I got hauled away." He grinned. "Plus, I would be fine if you two pulled the same maneuver to get the Shujin rumor mill off your back." 

Shiho nodded sagely while Ann's eyes sparkled on her video. Ryuji relaxed after a long moment, nodding quietly. 

"Shiho made the first move, anyway," Akira added, flippantly.

Ryuji's brow furrowed, but he was smirking, which was a good sign. _"You trying to steal my boy, Suzui?"_

Shiho scooted over to swat Akira upside the head before she answered. "They were annoying me, too, you know. It's like they think I'm too fragile to deal with anything myself, and I'm sick of it."

_"There's the fiery girl I know and love."_ Ann was beaming on her side of the call. She was onboard instantly, of course. _"What do you have planned? I'm gonna need those deets."_

Akira leaned forward conspiratorially alongside Shiho. "We've got a couple of plans. Holding hands, staring lovingly at each other at inopportune times, tenderly sharing a 300-yen steak skewer." Ryuji snorted, finally coming around to the idea.

"Tossing rice balls at each other." Shiho caught Ann chortling at that suggestion.

"A lovely, caring match of arm wrestling."

_"Do the interlocking arm eating thing with chopsticks full of ramen,"_ Ann managed between wheezes. Ryuji's laughter became cacophonous as his artifacted, choppy phone camera showed his whole body shaking with mirth.

"An incredibly complicated and intimate personal handshake." Akira broke at Shiho's suggestion, which was far better than the two blondes laughing up a storm on the line.

Through his laughs, Ryuji gasped and suggested, _"Celebratory chest bumps."_

Finally, Shiho broke, all four descending into cackles.

* * *

_Monday._

The questioning glares and odd glances started pretty much immediately. Students Akira recognized tried to hide their confused gazes, as they swung from him to Shiho and back again. It made him chuckle, but he couldn’t show it—their ruse had only just begun, after all.

Shiho would tap him with her pencil when the teacher faced away from them. He’d twist around in his seat comically far and stare lovingly into her eyes, his face softening and brows dipping with a perfect hint of adoration. They had practiced the most outrageous lovesick gaze for ages, and the muted sounds of disbelief were pure bliss to their ears. Akira even heard some harsh tongue clicking come from a couple of classmates; he had to suppress a smirk at the speed at which he got the attention of the usual suspects. Together, they had the entire class eating out of the palm of their hands. If people were going to be weird about them, _of course_ they were going to be That Couple. 

Lunch, then, was going to be special. They stayed away from the courtyard entirely. When they walked into the cafeteria together, holding hands, the third year students collectively had to double take as the odd couple took a seat with their ramen. Shiho and Akira pulled out their wooden chopsticks and rubbed off the splinters above the table, shooting shy grins to each other all the while. Some of the third years who knew Akira had slowly stopped eating their lunch to slyly gawk at the odd sight.

Once they were ready to eat, Shiho and Akira tapped their chopsticks together before digging in. Akira leaned in to make some light conversation.

“So, how do you like the finest instant ramen that money can buy, Suzui-san?”

Shiho scoffed with a smile plastered on her face. “All that money over the last year, and the best you can do is Junes generic brand? Not even Maruchan?”

“There’s an appeal in the flash-fried noodles. All that flavor powder and they still can’t hold any of the actual flavor.” He blew the steam off another bite. “It’s incredible, really.”

Across the table, Shiho’s shoulders shook lightly. She set her chopsticks aside primly, and shrugged off her zipped-open sweater. Akira grunted a noise of interest before he asked, “It’s mid-June, why are you wearing that thing, anyways?”

“It feels and smells like girlfriend, boy. You’d understand best, with that 777 hoodie tucked away.”

Akira squinted slightly as Shiho finished tying the sweater around her waist. “Yeah, but I want my Ryuji hoodie to continue to be a Ryuji hoodie. If I sweat all over it, it’ll become a me hoodie, and that’s unacceptable.” He took a large grasp of drippy noodles and held it in front of him. “I only have your best interest at heart, dear.”

Unready for the cute name, Shiho recoiled slightly with a laugh. “Okay, that’s like, a ‘relationship year three’ pet name, at absolute least.” She held her own big haul of noodles, dripping with fake broth. She shot an innocent smile at him that was anything but. “We doing this?”

With his faint nod, they took their arms—holding these slippery, cheap noodles—and interlocked them at the crooks of their elbows, both of them taking the whole bite of their noodles at once. The strikingly intimate maneuver left both their forearms wet with some ungodly mix of oil, broth, and whatever chemicals go into those noodles.

The onlookers, once disapproving, looked away in mild disgust and intense confusion. Akira and Shiho tried not to laugh through their mouthfuls of noodles. They ate the rest of their tasteless ramen while everyone else tried to puzzle together exactly _what_ they had just witnessed.

Completely cognizant of a job well done, the couple in question simply clinked their styrofoam ramen cups together in victory.

* * *

_Tuesday._

Last week’s calculus test was grueling, even by Akira’s standards. He and Shiho had studied the three nights before just to feel secure in their knowledge of derivatives. He finished the test, which was better than a third of the class. Shiho, admirably, finished with less than a minute to spare. She perspired through the exam more than she would have on a mile run, of course, but Akira’s help had been crucial in her having somewhat high hopes for passing.

Murmurs spread through the class like a haze after the period ended. No one felt good about it (with a few notable exceptions, Akira included), and the worry weighed on the students for the rest of the day. Akira and Shiho’s dating shenanigans, among other things, allowed the class to forget the creeping dread of the eventual posting of test scores.

When Tuesday morning rolled around and a large bulletin board was posted outside of class, almost everyone froze in their tracks; the worried whispers and groans came back in full force. “Oh my god, we forgot about the test.” _“You can’t make me look at my failures!”_ “Lord, who art in heaven, please let me have passed this exam…”

Akira was anxious, yes, but the fidgety figure of Shiho Suzui to his left made him seem positively stoic. He pulled her toward the board patiently, trying not to let Shiho’s anxiety send him into his own spiral of doubt. There were several classmates huddled around the board, expressions ranging widely from melancholy to despondent. Akira, with his considerable height advantage over his girl friend, got to peek at the list first.

His name, as he’d hoped, sat right at the top. He smiled to himself in satisfaction.

Shiho, bobbing and weaving to peek at the list around the others, froze in place and let out a noise of astonishment.

Akira quickly turned to his friend. “Was that a good ‘ah’ or a bad ‘ah’?” 

She tilted his direction and side-eyed him. One calming breath, followed by another. She murmured her response into the white-knuckled fist in front of her mouth. 

He leaned toward her slightly. “I didn’t hear you…”

She swung his direction, face alight, and whisper-shouted, _“I’M FOURTH.”_

Akira’s eyes widened. “I told you! I knew you could do it!” He took a step back and held his hand low. “C’mon, down low and up top.” 

Without a word, Shiho put her entire strength into the low five, which clapped with a satisfying sting. The sound intentionally grabbed the attention of the sullen students surrounding them. 

With all the attention now on them, they had their next prank in the bag. With matching, huge grins on their faces, the two troublemakers took a half step back and leapt into a massive chest bump. One graceful landing later, Akira clasped Shiho’s outstretched hand and tugged himself toward her. He brought his shoulder to meet hers in celebration, and she gave him a firm back pat in congratulations.

Every other student in the immediate area had no idea what just occurred in front of them. Almost all other motion and commotion stopped in the wake of the two transfer students doing… whatever that was.

A couple of girls huffed and entered the classroom to get away from the scene. The boys were mostly left confused, desperately trying to figure out if that was a legitimate dating move. Nagai-sensei, around the corner, was desperately trying not to burst at the seams laughing.

Once everyone finally got to their seats, Akira silently held up a fist over his shoulder. He didn’t need to see the ecstatic look on Shiho’s face to know it was there. The returning bump was a silent celebration for not only the math test, but also confusing the living hell out of their gossipy classmates.

* * *

_Wednesday._

“Are you kidding? Ann’s been loving the daily scoop from our little ploy.”

Hand holding had become the new normal for the two. To and from class, around school, at Junes… it was such a simple motion. Like riding a bike, nearly automatic once they picked up the feel of each other’s palms and interlocked fingers. Both of them got into the habit of tapping a couple of fingers in their hold when they were about to do something particularly bold. Once a day had been a good rate at which to burn through their brainstorming list of absurd feats of pair bonding, for now. 

Akira snorted as he swung their interconnected hands together gently. “Ryuji has been getting a good kick out of it, too. He was flattered we chose to do the chest bump thing.”

Shiho squeezed his hand in response. She laughed lightly to herself before she said, “Well, he knows I’m always going to be a jock at heart. He and I are clearly the same person, which means I have to be ready for a chest bump at any time.”

“I don’t think you’ll be convincing Ann to give you a chest bump any time soon, unfortunately.”

“Oh, we bump chests all the time—”

“Shiho, oh my god. Wait, what does that even mean?” Akira’s question went unanswered as Shiho surrendered to a blushing giggle fit. Once it subsided, he decided to air a thought he’d sat on for a while. 

“You know what I think, Shiho?”

“Hm?”

“This whole crazy scenario has me thinking about how lucky Ann is.”

Shiho’s expression molded into confusion. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, she’s dating you, for one.” Shiho’s grip tightened and a light blush colored her face. Akira continued, “You’re game for almost anything, your sense of humor rules, and you’re an objectively pretty girl, to boot. That’s three huge Ann points right there.”

“Doesn’t sound like you’re talking entirely about Ann there, Akira.”

A small but too long gap of silence hung in the air before Akira responded, “Huh, weird.”

Shiho laughed freely. “_God_, don’t fall in love with me now.”

Akira scoffed halfheartedly. “Don’t worry, we’re both spoken for anyway, aren’t we?”

Shiho glanced up to him and took in his small, sincere grin; she hummed and squeezed his hand, in lieu of an actual response.

The supposedly lovesick couple walked into the cafeteria from the courtyard, lunch finished early and looking for some way to spend the few minutes they have left in their lunch period. Most folks were finishing their lunch, but some eyes immediately locked onto them. One of the lunch tables had enough room at the end for them to sit across each other.

Shiho saw an opportunity, and tapped Akira’s hand twice before slipping out of his grip.

Akira’s eyes widened slightly as Shiho giggled and twirled around to face him, walking backward toward the table. She demurely ran her right hand into his, continuing the hold as they moved to sit. The hold felt a little awkward, but they were still able to swing their joined hands a little. The two slowed as they approached the table, their joined grip swinging well enough to enact her plan.

There was a crack in the atmosphere when their grip shifted and they both landed on the table elbow first. They crashed into their seats, grips hardening and forearm muscles straining to overpower each other. The initial slam into their sudden arm wrestling contest echoed off the cafeteria walls, and there was no chance that anyone in the room wanted to miss this bit of theater.

In an instant, their faces slid into determined scowls as they battled for dominance. Akira had the upper body strength to put forth a solid effort, but Shiho is a worthy opponent with more than enough power in her arms. Their grip was quaking under the muscle strain behind their efforts. The onlookers from all years observed them with confusion, tinged slightly by worry.

Akira believed he had nothing to worry about in this contest, before Shiho put up her surprisingly valiant effort. He was a gymnast, and phantom thieving didn't allow him to let up on his regiment in the slightest. Shiho was into volleyball, most of her muscle was in her legs.

_Wait, don't think about Shiho's legs,_ Akira's mind screamed in retaliation.

His split second of distraction was enough for Shiho to seize, and she slammed his hand onto the table. The boys in the cafeteria went wild, freaking out over her strength, while Akira looked slightly dazed that it was all over so quickly. Mercifully, the warning bell for afternoon classes sounded off, which sent most of the students in a flurry of gathering their things for afternoon classes. Akira had a dumb grin plastered on his face as he looked at Shiho.

She needed to know why that look was there. She picked up his hand and gave it a dainty peck for show. “What happened, Akira?”

“Promise not to slap me?”

Her grip on his hand tightened slightly as she raised an eyebrow. “Do I need to?”

He couldn’t meet her eyes. “Maybe.”

“Okay, no slapping. Tell me.”

“I got distracted by thinking that all of your volleyball muscles were in your legs.”

She slapped the top of his hand, quickly turning it a bright red before he yanked it away and shook it in pain, all while he tried not to bust out laughing.

Shiho pointed a finger at him, but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Remember what I said? _Don’t!_” Akira simply burst into snickers in response as they scampered to class.

* * *

_Friday._

The bell rang to end the school day, and students started to file out of Yasogami in the usual orderly chaos they’d learned to expect.

Shiho, though, hauled a gym bag with her. Friday was afterschool strength training for the off-season volleyball team, and she had to supervise. As the two so-called lovebirds reached the junction between the school gates and the gymnasium, they went separate ways and let their hold stretch and gently lift apart like an overacted romance flick before they faced each other. 

Akira may have shoved his bag in the corner of the hallway, wedged between some lockers. With Mona and his phone inside, so he could record this. For posterity, of course.

Akira moved first. “Time for practice, babe?”

Shiho smiled back affectionately, shifting on her heels. “You know it, toots.”

“Awful,” he chided at the terrible pet name, but couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face. He held his hand out, hoping he’d remember everything they’d planned. As soon as she put her right hand out for their secret handshake, the movements were simple muscle memory. 

Shake, then switch grip around the thumb to clasp, pull in to bump shoulders softly. Pull back, clasp each other’s left forearm, let the grip slip to a finger hook shake. Lift her arm up, pirouette, clap right hand over the left hand hold, then under, then clap the left handed clasp itself. Hold for just a second too long, then let go.

He was grinning like an idiot, despite the increasingly confused stares the two were subjected to. He wasn’t paying attention to them.

“Have fun with your workout.”

Even after the hidden hours of practice, Shiho still blushed. “Thanks, I will.”

Akira watched as she walked away, dazed as he admired her form and confidence. An errant shoulder bump from someone trying to leave knocked him out of his reverie, which caught him completely off guard. He moved to go get his bag and start his walk home. Once he got far enough away from the campus, he quietly asked, "How'd the footage come out?"

The pause was long enough that he could envision Morgana rolling his eyes. Eventually, Morgana responded, "I got it all, you petty dog."

"Calling me a dog isn't fair. My reflexes are more catlike than anything."

Mona zipped himself out of the bag and swatted him in the temple. "It's called irony, Joker. Check this video out."

Akira plucked the phone from the bag and hit play. The grin on his face was uncontrollable. "Oh, the blondes are gonna _love_ this."

All the way back at the school gates, just outside the door, one girl in particular remained in place, and seethed.

* * *

_Saturday._

The bell for lunch rang, but that didn’t stop Nagai-sensei from calling out a quick request over the heads of several hungry students. “Kurusu-kun, may I speak to you before you leave? It’s nothing bad, don’t worry.”

The teacher’s request raised a few eyebrows, including Akira’s. He had no reason to suspect anything, so he simply gave a curt nod in response. He turned in his seat and said, “This should only take a few minutes. I’ll tell you about it when I get to the courtyard.” Shiho nodded with a grin and made for the door.

Shiho meandered to the courtyard without Akira for the first time in… quite a while. Maybe since the school year started. _Wow_ , she wondered to herself. She knew they had become fast friends, but she truly missed his company, even if it was for a little bit. She reminisced about her school year so far, opening her bento box. They spent _a lot_ of time together. So many of the things that came to mind from the last few months was something that either Ann or Akira was present for.

_He really has become an important part of my life_, Shiho thought as she bit into a snap pea.

A shadow cast over her meal, and Shiho turned to see two of her classmates blocking out the sun with the way they towered over her. Shiho squinted at them questioningly. “Ishikawa-kun, and… Ota-kun? Can I help you?”

Kaede Ota adjusted her glasses with an oddly familiar motion before she spoke. “Suzui-san, do you know what you’ve gotten yourself into?” When Shiho’s brow furrowed with her unspoken question, she continued, “Don’t pretend with me. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Shiho shook her head lightly as she took a bite of her rice, the puzzled look on her face threatening to become permanent. “You’ll have to pretend that I have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you mind starting from the beginning?”

Ishikawa stepped forward. “Kurusu. You weren’t here when he was here before, in our first year.”

Ota piled on. “You don’t know how dangerous he is. Not like we do.”

Puzzled shifted into befuddled as Shiho started to get more of the pieces that weren’t clicking together just yet. “I mean, he told me he was from here so I knew he must have gone to this school his first year, but it didn’t connect in my mind until he joined our class in April.” She casually ate some of her chicken. “What’s this about?”

Clearly losing patience, Ota leaned forward like she pushed a chess piece into checkmate. “This is about his criminal record. Did you know he assaulted someone so bad, they had no choice but to ship him off to some juvie school in the city? How do you think that makes the rest of us look?”

Ishikawa continued, not noticing the effect of their taunting. “We don’t know how he weaseled his way back here in the first place, considering he’d probably fit in far better with some Shinjuku street thugs than he would with anyone here.” She copied the lean of the girl next to her. “He’s not a safe person to be around. We’re looking out for you, Suzui.”

Shiho, tired of the posturing, stood up and invaded their personal space. “You two realize that he went to a normal public school in Tokyo, right? It’s the same one I transferred from when I came to Inaba last year, just in case that slipped by you.” Her brain, desperate to catch up to the other two’s wavelength, finally noted something weird about their lines of thought. “This sounds awfully personal for you two, anyway. Anyone who bothered to keep up with his case would have noticed that all his charges were dropped after they found out he was framed.”

Ota didn’t flinch at Shiho’s aggressive display. “You ever, just once, think that me knowing he’s a scumbag might be coming from personal experience?” Her voice started to raise slightly. “I dumped his ass as soon as he proved to the entire town that he couldn’t stop himself from beating one of his elders bloody. How do you think being close to him made _me_ look?”

The last puzzle piece fit neatly into place. Out of pure incredulity, Shiho scoffed in Ota’s face. “Oh, you’re his ex. And you didn’t actually care about him beyond being arm candy, either.”

Ishikawa huffed and immediately retorted, “We came to warn you about him to protect yourself, and _this_ is how you repay us?”

Shiho shot a cold glare at her. “Akira was one of three people who never stopped supporting me in Tokyo, before I moved. He’s been my best friend since he moved back out here. You two haven’t given a damn about me outside of classwork since I transferred in. He _matters_ to me.”

From the door to the courtyard, a new voice joined the conversation: 

“Ah, Ishikawa-kun, Kaede. Come outside to enjoy the weather?”

Akira’s ex swung around to glare at him. “It’s Ota for you, actually.”

“You know, those five words just now are exactly five more words than what you said to me when you cut me off without a chance to tell you my side of the story.” 

When Ota sputtered angrily, Akira chose to address Shiho instead.

“Instead of actually telling me she was breaking up with me, she blocked my number, and that friendly sentence just now is the first thing she has directly said to me since.”

Ishikawa glared at Akira. “I saw you hurt Suzui several times this week. You hit her in the face with a rice ball, you ran into her with your full body weight on purpose, and you slammed her elbow when you did her little arm wrestling stunt.” She smirked like she held a smoking gun. “I should be reporting you to the principal for things like this.”

From behind her, Shiho cackled. “Half of those were my idea, but it sounds like all of them worked.”

Ota turned to scowl at her. _“What?”_

Akira shoved his hands into his pockets and piped up with a smarmy smirk. “We were just fucking with you. We’re not even dating.” 

The color drained from Ota and Ishikawa’s faces. Akira shifted onto one foot and continued to drive the point home. “In fact, both of us have dates in Tokyo that not only knew about this, but actively gave us ideas about _how_ to mess with you.” Behind them, Shiho’s laughter grew by the second. 

Ishikawa crushed the notes in her hand in unchecked fury.

Seeing nothing but red, Ota charged for the door, shouldering past Akira. Without turning around, she shouted, _“You’re a fucking snake, Kurusu!”_ Ishikawa rushed past him to keep up with her, as the two finally left the courtyard.

Akira placidly moved to sit at the lunch table. After about five seconds to let everything sink in, he broke into uncontrollable laughter, joined by Shiho a moment later.

A beat went by before Akira grinned and asked, “So. I matter to you?”

Shiho blushed a light pink, but kicked him under the table and huffed at him. “Careful there, lover boy.” The few seconds of silence stretched for much longer than that. 

“Of course you do.”

* * *

_Two weeks later._

Ann and Ryuji had taken to hanging out on the roof. Old habits die hard, it seemed.

They were idly chatting about their dumb partners in the countryside when the access door creaked open, and a shaky second year squeezed through the sliver. He approached the two blondes, miraculously doing so without losing his nerve. Their conversation had long stopped as they warily watched the underclassman approach them.

Ryuji reached out first. “Hey man, ya need something? You look a little lost.”

The quivering mess of a student eventually asked, “Are the rumors true? Are you two y’know… dating?” 

Ryuji had the decency to look gobsmacked by the errant question

Ann acted first by leaning into him, sliding her hand into his and giving the student her best “shy” face. “Well, we’ve been trying to stay discreet, but you can’t stop the demands of the heart.”

Ryuji’s face flushed a deep red, but he was proud of his ability to keep up with Ann’s feminine wiles. “Yeah, we’re a little bit of a power couple, but we just wanna keep it on the down low, ya know?”

The poor student stammered out a thanks and retreated to the safety of the stairwell, leaving Ryuji and Ann to figure out what the hell they just committed themselves to.

**Author's Note:**

> They're going to need to Talk.
> 
> This is Part 5/7 of a larger multi-work series... my inspiration has been all over the place, so I'm posting it as I complete it and filling in the blanks later. I know this isn't the best way to do it, but I'd rather post than hold on to something finished forever. So, as I post the other entries of this mini-series, I'll slot them in accordingly!
> 
> Comments are always appreciated! I will do my best to respond to everything.
> 
> You can find me on Twitter at [@tbandido_writes](https://twitter.com/tbandido_writes)!


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